Saturday, January 29, 2011

There. I have said it. No amount of exposition on shiny paper, with photographs devised by the latest technology will budge me from this opinion.

Any number of persons will now run to their favorite new book and drag it out to defend it. harrumph. All such efforts are in vain. Those who prefer the old do not care for all the arguments in Babylon in defense of new.

There is nothing new under the sun - merely revised ways of viewing things ... some like to think it is "new ways of looking" ... but we all know only babies have a new way of looking at things. Society (drooling bully that it collectively is) soon beats that out of the wee upstarts. (I say drooling because, collectively, society drools after all that is shiny, flashily inconsequential and base). Anyhoooo ... here are some lovely illustrations in an old book from 1806. This book had been much read and studied in its day. This is hardly an incunable treasure, but it is a treasure of a sort for those who appreciate such ...

James Ferguson's Astronomy Explained Upon Sir Isaac Newton's Principles, and made Easy for those who have not Studied Mathematics ... &c., &c. - Published in 1806 in Philadelphia by Mathew Carey.

Who is Professor Booknoodle?

Professor Booknoodle is an autodidactic book dealer from the early 20th century who has found that he has been inexplicably transplanted to the 21st century. The Professor has adjusted nicely. He still pursues bookselling as an avocation, and sells the occasional item. The Professor has noticed a change in the complexity of shipping. But his biggest perplexity is, in his own words, "How the deuce did I get shipped to the future?" Professor Booknoodle is the online avatar of Josiah Booknoodle, one half of the bookselling team that makes up Brothertown Books.